Ludwig of Bavaria: September 2011

LINDERHOFF - HERRENCHIEMSEE

LINDERHOF & HERRENCHIEMSEE

SCHLOß LINDERHOF

Schloß Londerhof

Linderhof Palace (German: Schloss Linderhof) is in Germany, near Oberammergau in southwest Bavaria near Ettal Abbey.

It is the smallest of the three palaces built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria and the only one which he lived to see completed.

Atlas Sculpture - Schloß Linderhof

Schloß Linderhof - Fountain

The water parterre in front of the castle is dominated by a large basin with the gilt fountain group "Flora and puttos". The fountain itself is nearly 25 meters high.

Schloß Linderhof at Night

Schloß Linderhof - Plan

Linderhof Castle is an ornate palace in neo-French Rococo style, with handsome formal gardens.

Just north of the palace, at the foot of the Hennenkopf, the park contains a Venus grotto where Ludwig was rowed in a shell-like boat on an underground lake lit with red, green or "Capri" blue effects by electricity, a novelty at that time, provided by one of the first generating plants in Bavaria.

In the forest nearby a romantic wooded hut was also built around an artificial tree (see Hundinghütte above).

Inside the palace, iconography reflects Ludwig's fascination with the absolutist government of Ancien Régime France.

Ludwig saw himself as the "Moon King", a romantic shadow of the earlier "Sun King", Louis XIV of France.

From Linderhof, Ludwig enjoyed moonlit sleigh rides in an elaborate eighteenth century sleigh, complete with footmen in eighteenth century livery.

He was known to stop and visit with rural peasants while on rides, adding to his legend and popularity.

The sleigh can today be viewed with other royal carriages and sleds at the Carriage Museum (Marstallmusem) at Nymphenburg Palace in Munich.

Its lantern was illuminated by electricity supplied by a battery.

There is also a Moorish Pavilion in the park of Schloß Linderhof.

Schloß Linderhof - State Bedroom

Schloß Linderhof - Salon

Schloß Linderhof -Ludwig's Private bedroom

Schloß Linderhof - Peacock

Schloß Linderhof - Gardens

Schloß Linderhof - Garden Temple

Schloß Linderhof - Maurischer Kiosk

This building was designed by the Berliner architect Karl von Diebitsch for the International Exhibition in Paris 1867.

Ludwig II wanted to buy it but was forestalled by the railroad king Bethel Henry Strousberg. Ludwig bought the pavilion after the bankruptcy of Strousberg.

The most notable piece of furniture of this building is the peacock throne.

Schloß Linderhof - Maurischer Kiosk

Schloß Linderhof - Maurischer Kiosk - Interior

Schloß Linderhof - Maurischer Kiosk

The Peacock Throne

Schloß Linderhof - Venusgrotte

The building is wholly artificial and was built for the king as an illustration of the First Act of Wagner's "Tannhäuser".

Ludwig liked to be rowed over the lake in his golden swan-boat but at the same time he wanted his own blue grotto of Capri. Therefore 24 dynamos had been installed and so already in the time of Ludwig II it was possible to illuminate the grotto in changing colours.

Schloß Linderhof - Venusgrotte

SCHLOß HERRENCHIEMSEE

Schloß Herrenchiemsee

Herrenchiemsee is a replica (although only the central section was ever built) of Louis XIV's palace at Versailles, France, which was meant to outdo its predecessor in scale and opulence - for instance, at 98 meters the Hall of Mirrors is a third longer than the original.
The palace is located on the Herren Island in the middle of the Chiemsee Lake.
Most of the palace was never completed once the king ran out of money, and Ludwig lived there for only 10 days in October 1885, less than a year before his mysterious death.
It is interesting to note that tourists come from France to view the recreation of the famous Ambassadors' Staircase.
The original Ambassadors' Staircase at Versailles was demolished in 1752.

Schloß Herrenchiemsee

The unfinished Neues Schloss (New Palace) was designed by Christian Jank, Franz Seitz, and Georg von Dollmann and built between 1878 and 1885.

Between 1863 and 1886 a total of 16,579,674 Marks was spent constructing Herrenchiemsee. An 1890 '20 Mark' gold coin contained 0.2304 troy ounce (7.171 g) of gold. Therefore, 16,579,674 Marks would equate to 190,998 oz of gold.

Ludwig only had the opportunity to stay within the Palace for a few days in September 1885. After his death in the following year, all construction work discontinued and the building was opened for the public.

In 1923 Crown Prince Rupprecht gave the palace to the State of Bavaria.

Schloß Herrenchiemsee

Schloß Herrenchiemsee - Spiegelgalerie - (Hall of Mirrors)

Schloß Herrenchiemsee - Ambassador's Staircase

Schloß Herrenchiemsee - Spiegelgalerie - (Hall of Mirrors)

Unlike the medieval design of Neuschwanstein Castle begun in 1869, the New Palace is, in a sense, a Neo-Baroque monument to Ludwig's admiration of King Louis XIV of France.

In the great hall of mirrors of the palace the ceiling is painted with 25 tableaux showing Louis XIV at his best.

It was to have been an equivalent to the Palace of Versailles, but only the central portion was built before the king died in 1886, where-after construction was discontinued leaving 50 of the 70 rooms of the palace incomplete.

It was never meant to be a perfectly exact replica of Versailles and in several places surpasses it.

With a length of 98 m (322 ft) and 23 arches the Hall of Mirrors is larger than the Versailles equivalent.

The dining room features an elevator table and a huge chandelier of Meissen porcelain, the largest in the world.

The building also benefits from nearly two centuries of technological progress, while the original Versailles palace did not have a single toilet and the only running water was outside in the fountains.

King Ludwig's "copy" has more modern facilities including a central heating system and a large heated bathtub.

Schloß Herrenchiemsee - Gardens & Fountains

Also, unlike Versailles, it was built on an island and is now only accessible by a small ferry.
The formal gardens are filled with fountains, a copy of the Versailles Bassin de Latone and statues in both the classical style typical of Versailles and in the fantastic style typical of romanticism that was favored by King Ludwig. Cool maidens which look as if they have stepped out of a museum of classical antiquity are never too far from dragons, winged warriors, giant lizards and other extravagant beings which look as if they have come from one of Richard Wagner's romantic operas.

Adolf Hitler visiting Schloß Herrenchiemsee

c1930s

Adolf Hitler visiting Schloß Herrenchiemsee

c1930s

click here for more information about Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Wappen Freistaat Bayern

Bavaria, formally the Freistaat Bayern (Free State of Bavaria), is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of the country.
With an area of 70,548 square kilometres (27,200 sq mi), it is the largest German state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany.
Bavaria is Germany's second most populous state (after North Rhine-Westphalia) with almost 12.5 million inhabitants, more than any of the three sovereign states on its borders.
Bavaria's capital is Munich.
One of the oldest states of Europe, it was established as a duchy in the mid first millennium.
In the 17th century, the Duke of Bavaria became a Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire. The Kingdom of Bavaria existed from 1806 to 1918, and Bavaria has since been a free state (republic).
Modern Bavaria also includes parts of the historical regions of Franconia and Swabia.
Bavaria is renowned for its beautiful alpine scenery, which forms a superb backdrop for the magical castles built by the former King, Ludwig II.

for more information see

click here for 'Richard Wagner'

a fascinating, fully illustrated study of this
truly remarkable period of modern history

click here for 'Parsifal'

Richard Wagner's greates music drama

this blog is under construction - please be patient

for the art of Peter Crawford go to

http://greatartpetercrawford.blogspot.com/

HOHENSCHWANGAU, NEUSCHWANSTEIN & FALKENSTEIN

HOHENSCHWANGAU - NEUSCHWANSTEIN - FALKENSTEIN

SCHLOß HOHENSCHWANGAU

Hohenschwangau Castle or Schloss Hohenschwangau (lit: High Swan County Palace) is a 19th century palace in southern Germany.
It was the childhood residence of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and was built by his father, King Maximilian II of Bavaria.
It is located in the German village of Schwangau near the town of Füssen, part of the county of Ostallgäu in southwestern Bavaria, Germany, very close to the border with Austria.

Schloß Hohenschwangau

As a boy Ludwig lived for much of the time at Castle Hohenschwangau, a fantasy castle his father had built near the Schwansee (Swan Lake) near Füssen.

In 1832, Ludwig's father King Maximilian II of Bavaria bought its ruins to replace them by the comfortable neo-Gothic palace known as Hohenschwangau Castle. Finished in 1837, the palace became his family's summer residence.

It was decorated in the gothic style with countless frescoes depicting heroic German sagas.

The family also visited Lake Starnberg.

As an adolescent, Ludwig became best friends with his aide de camp, Prince Paul of Bavaria's wealthy Thurn und Taxis family. The two young men rode together, read poetry aloud, and staged scenes from the Romantic operas of Richard Wagner.

Schloß Hohenschwangau

Music Room with the 'Wagner Piano'

Richard Wagner

portrait by Franz Von Lenbach

SCHLOß NEUSCHWANSTEIN

Schloss Neuschwanstein, is a 19th-century Gothic Revival palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau near Füssen in southwest Bavaria, Germany.
The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and as an homage to Richard Wagner.
The palace was intended as a personal refuge for the reclusive king, but it was opened to the paying public immediately after his death in 1886.
Since then over 60 million people have visited Neuschwanstein Castle.

Schloß Neuschwanstein

The building design was drafted by the stage designer Christian Jank and realized by the architect Eduard Riedel.

Initial ideas for the palace drew stylistically on Nuremberg Castle and envisaged a simple building in place of the old Vorderhohenschwangau Castle, but they were rejected and replaced by increasingly extensive drafts, culminating in a bigger palace modelled on the Wartburg.
The king insisted on a detailed plan and on personal approval of each draft.
His control went so far that the palace has been regarded as his own creation rather than that of the architects involved.
Whereas contemporary architecture critics derided Neuschwanstein, one of the last big palace building projects of the 19th century, as kitsch, Neuschwanstein and Ludwig II's other buildings are now counted among the major works of European historicism.

Schloß Neuschwanstein - Plan - showing proposed un-built Chapel

Schloß Neuschwanstein under construction 1882-1885

Schloß Neuschwanstein under construction 1886

Schloß Neuschwanstein - Photochrom print c.1900

For financial reasons a project similar to Neuschwanstein – Schloß Fanstelkein (see left) – never left the planning stages.

King Ludwig II of Bavaria purchased the ruin - Castrum Pfronten (see right) - in 1883 and commissioned several architects, the first being Christian Jank (the designer of Neuschwanstein), to replace the existing structure with a romantic castle.

Jank first created a restrained design, but later envisioned the castle in a dramatic, High Gothic style.

Georg Dollmann was employed to produce plans and elevations in the same year based on Jank's design.
However, his modest and economical designs displeased Ludwig.
The task of redesigning Falkenstein was then given to Max Schultze, the Prince Thurn und Taxis' architect, who was flattered by the royal commission.
He not only planned the architecture of the castle in a robber baron's style (a highly simplified version of Jank's sketch), but also began creating the castle's interior design and frescos (in a secular Byzantine style) with the help of August Spieß.
Of particular note was Ludwig's bedroom, which was reminiscent of a vast chapel (see below).
During this time, in 1884, a road and water lines were made to service the site and a papier-mâché model of Schultze's plan was created.
However, Schultze withdrew from the project in 1885.
Julius Hofmann and Eugen Drollinger were chosen to succeed Schultze, although they knew that it was unlikely Falkenstein would ever be built.
Thus, they made their designs as spectacular and impractical as they wished.
Drollinger was working on a plan of Ludwig's bedchamber - redesigned to feature stained glass windows and a mosaic dome - when he learned of the King's death.
Ludwig died in 1886 before work on the castle proper could begin, and the many plans for Falkenstein were permanently abandoned.
The ruin of Castrum Pfronten on the building site was never demolished.
The Patrona Bavariae and Saint George on the court face of the Palas (main building) are depicted in the local Lüftlmalerei style, a fresco technique typical for Allgäu farmers' houses, while the unimplemented drafts for the Knights' House gallery foretell elements of Art Nouveau.
The basic style was originally planned to be neo-Gothic but was primarily built in Romanesque style in the end.
The operatic themes moved gradually from Tannhäuser and Lohengrin to Parsifal.

for more information about Christian Jank, Fanstelkein and Parsifal see - http://greatartclassicalnude.blogspot.com/2010/12/great-art-german-art.html

for more information about Richard Wagner see:

Richard Wagner

Schloß Falkenstein - State Bedroom

CGI from original designs by Max Schultze and Drollinger

and inspired by Wagner's 'Parsifal'

In addition to Falkenstein, Ludwig also planned a Chinese Palace in the Alp.

Drawings were prepared by Christian Jank but Ludwig died before the project could move beyond the planning stage, (see below).

Chinese Palace

CGI from original designs by Christian Jank

Schloß Neuschwanstein

Neuschwanstein Castle, or "New Swan Stone Castle", is a dramatic Romanesque fortress with Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic interiors, which was built high above his father's castle: Hohenschwangau.

Numerous wall paintings depict scenes from the legends Wagner used in his operas.

Christian glory and chaste love figure predominantly in the iconography, and may have been intended to help Ludwig live up to his religious ideals, but the bedroom decoration depicts the illicit love of Tristan & Isolde (after Gottfried von Strasbourg's poem).

The castle was not finished at Ludwig's death; the Kemenate was completed in 1892 but the watch-tower and chapel were only at the foundation stage in 1886 and were never built.

The residence quarters of the King - which he first occupied in May 1884 - can be visited along with the servant's rooms, kitchens as well as the monumental throne room.

Unfortunately the throne was never completed although sketches show how it might have looked on completion.